Winding machine



July 1s, 1933. A. F. PYM 1,918,714`

wINDING MACHINE Filed Deo. 50, 1932 Patented July 18, 1933 UNITEDSTATES' 'PATENT OFFICE ARTHUR F. PYM, OF BEACH BLUFF, MASSACHUSETTSASSIGNOR TO SIBLEY-PYM CORPORATION, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ACORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS WINIDING MACHINE Application filed December30, 1932. Serial No. 649,524.

rIhis inventionv relates to machines for Winding spherical cores, suchas those uscd in the construction of golf balls, and its general objectis to improve such machines in respect to the uniformity and accuracy oftheir operation under commercial conditions of use.

In the manufacture of golf balls, it is customary to employ a small corecenter of soft rubber or an acid-filled center and to wind upon this atensioned elastic thread forming a spherical core of great resiliency.It is of the utmost importance to carry out the winding processsymmetrically vso that the core center shall at all times occupy thegeometric center ofthe core and to arrange the windings so as to preventdisplacement of the core center when the finished ball is subjected tothe rough treatment incident to its use. In my prior application, SerialN o. 507,816, filed January 10, 1931, I have disclosed a winding machineprovided with a rotary detector member for detecting the zone of maximumdiameter in the core as it is wound and reacting with the last woundturns upon lthe core to cause the latter to shift its position, therebymaintaining the core spherical in shape during the winding process. Inone aspect the present invention consists in improvements in detectorsof the type disclosed in said prior application. In another aspect itconsists in improvements in Winding machinos in general tending toimprove their accuracy in operation and sensitiveness in Acontrol of theposition of the core.

I have discovered that by providing a rotary detector member with acovering which is` transversely displaceable, I have providedaconstruction which satisfactorily meets all these .requirements and,broadly considered, my invention consists in such Yan organizedconstruction. In machines to slide sideways or laterally upon the diskA20 is mounted upon the rolls 14 and 16, being 100 u employing a rotarydisk as a detector member',"the displaceable covering may take the formof a circular shoe ofi/rubber or other flexible material arranged to fitupon the disk in such manner as to partake of its linear travel andbeing at the same time free in reacting with the last Wound turns of thecore. Such a shoe, being of relatively small mass and so organized as tofacilitate by the thread guide which leads to the core l being Wound.

These vand other features of the invention will be best understood andappreciated from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof, selected for purposes of illustra-tion and shown in theaccompanying drawing, in which Fig. l is a view in perspective of somuch of the Winding machine disclosed in my prior application, aboveidentified, as is tion; and

Fig. 2 1s a view, on an enlarged scale,

'partly in section, of the core supporting and rotating parts of themachine together With the rotary detector.

The driven elements of the machine are mounted in an upright frame 10, aportion of which is shown in F ig. l. The frame is bored to receive asleeve 12 in which are formed bearings for the main shaft of the machineto the outer end of which is secured a driving roll 14 which is somewhatconcave in its cylindrical surface. TheY roll 14 constitutes theright-hand Vand driven roll of a horizontally disposed pair whichsupport the core 10() which is to be Wound. The left-hand roll 16 isl:similar in size but slightly convex in shape and is mounted to rotateidly upon the outer end of a stationary stud 18 projecting from the faceof the frame 10.

As herein shown, an endless flexible band necessary to an understandingof the invendriven by the roll 20 and acting to drive the roll 16. Thecore 100 to be wound rests in the bite of the upper pass of the band 20as in a cradle, so that the band is the element which actually suppliessupport and traction for rotating the core. Since the band 20 isiiexible, it wraps about a portion of the periphery of the core andimparts an impelling traction thereto, tending to obviate slip in therotation of the core and being ample to rotate the core even underconditions involving severe tension in the elastic thread which is beingdelivered to and wound upon the core.

As the machine of my prior application, the rotary detector is carriedby an arm 22 arranged to swing vertically about a horizontal axis andcarrying at its free end a stationary transverse stud 24 whichconstitutes the journal of the detector. The detector, with the arm 22,is swung upwardly as the diameter of the core is increased and variousoperations in the cycle of the machine are controlled by this movementof the arm.

The detector is mounted for free rotation upon the stud 24 through themedium of ball bearings. As shown in Fig. 2, the inner race 26 ispressed upon the end of the stud 24 until it brings up against ashoulder formed in the stud. It is held in place bya screw 27 passingthrough a washer and being threaded into the end of the stud. The innerrace provides for a double roll of balls and outside these is the outerrace 26 which is pressed into the bore of the detector disk 30. Securedto the rear face of the diskv 30 is a cover plate 32 and secured to theouter face thereof is ay chambered cover plate`34. The two cover platesare held in place by transverse screws 36 which pass through the rearcover plate 32 and the disk 30 and are threaded intothe outer coverplate 34. The chamber in the outer cover plate 34 provides an oilchamber which maybesupplied through a centrally located oiler 38 in thecover plate. The detector disk itself has a circumfertial rim which isconvex in cross section. It will be apparent that the detector isarranged to spin freely as a unit upon the journal stud 24.

s -a covering for the rim of the detector, I have disclosed herein acircular shoe 40 of rubber composition, preferably molded in a singlepiece to fit the convex periphery of the detector. The dimensions of theshoe 40 are such as to cause it to engage resiliently the rim of thedetector about its central zone and, on account of the length of thecontacting surfaces of the detector disk and the shoe, the latter willpartake of the linear movement of the disk without any npticeable.tendency to circumferential slipping-l. l p

T e shoe 40 is inwardly concave in cross section to fit the generalcontour of the convex rim of the detector disk 30 but its radius orcurvature is somewhat longer than that of the contour of the rim, and itis provided with two circumferential flanges which thus stand oifsomewhat from the sides of the rim'of the detector disk. The result isthat the shoe is free at all times to e displaced laterally ortransversely upon the disk. A very light lateral impulse is suiiicientto cause such local displacement in the shoe 40, as, for example, at itspoint of contact with the core 100 in the winding Zone of the latter.

Without undertaking to explain the complete phenomenon due to which theimproved action of the detector of my invention results, it may be saidthat the shoe acts as a loose and easily displaced skin upon the rim ofthe detector. In cases where no shoe of this kind is used, there must beat least a very slight friction between the last wound turns of the coreand the metal surface of the detector rim. Where such a shoe as thatherein shown is employed, friction between the core and the shoe in thelateral displacement of the core is entirely obviated and the portion ofthe shoe which is in engagement with the core moves laterally with it.There is, of course, in this movement some friction between the shoe 40and thev rim of the detector disk 30 but this may be reduced to aminimum by making the inner surface of the shoe of anti-frictionalmaterial or by lubricating the contacting surfaces of the two elements.The amount of friction effective to retard the transverse displacementof the core is reduced by this cxpedient materially as compared to thatobtained in detector construction l'heretofore used, and the results arenoticeably apparent in an improved quality of core.

The effect above explained is doubtless increased or caused to someextent by the fiexible nature of the shoe 40. While the lateral ortransverse displacement of the small area of the shoe in actualengagement with the core is principally one of bodily displacement, asimilar action results from a transverse elastic stretching of thematerial of the As explained in my prior application, the band 20, whichis carried by the rolls 14 and 16, is somewhat narrower than the lengthoi' of the idle roll 16 and is thus permittedto sway laterally from sideto side in response to lateral turning of the core brought about by theaction of the detector. It will be seen that the core is thus supportedbetween flexible and yieldable members which rotate the core and hold itin place during the winding process and .that both of said members aremounted for temporary transverse displacement in reacting with the core.

The operation of the novel detector of my invention will be clear fromthe foregoing description but may be summarized for convenience asfollows. Having passed the end of the elastic thread about the corecenter,

` theoperator lifts the detector arm 22 and laces the core upon theendless supporting and 20, lowering the detector' into Contact with it.The machine is then set in operation andthe mechanical winding operationinitiated. As this continues, the detector arm is raised by theincreasing diameter of the core and the detectorl is rapidly rotated byits engagement therewith. The winding zone is substantially vertical ortransverse to the axes of the supporting rolls, being determined by athread guide, not shown in the present drawing. The last wound turn orturns upon the core tend to create a surface projection, as indicatedwith some exaggeration in Fig. 2. This at once creates an unstablecondition-since the point of contact between thc narrow ridge of thelast wound turn and the detector is through the medium el thedisplaceable covering or shoe 40. The result is that as soon as anydetectible ridge or oversize zone is formed in the core, the shoe reactswith this to shift laterally so that a. new winding zone is produced inthe core. This action is suggested in Fig. Q, from which it will be seenthat the cross section of that portion of the shoe 40 which is incontact with the last turn upon the core is displaced slightly towardthe left, with the result that the next turn to be wound upon the corewill be located immediately to the right-of the previous turn upon theside of the core now uppermost.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is: n

1. A winding machine including means for supporting and rotating a coreto be wound, a rotary detector member arranged to run on the peripheryof the core and to react with the most recently wound turns thereon anda. transversely displaceable covering for the detector.

2. A windingmachine including means for supporting and rotating a coreto be wound,

and a rotary detector mounted to turn on an axis parallel to the rotaryaxis of the core and having a loose covering arranged to sliptransversely in reacting with the last wound turns on the core.

f 3. A winding machine including means for supporting and rotating acore beingmwound, a rotary detector having a convex periphery and beingmounted to bc rotated by engagement with the core, and a side-slippingcontact element rotatable with the detector.

4. A winding machine including means `for supporting and rotating a corebeing wound, a detector disk arranged to be rotated by engagement withthe core, and an elongated flexible cover for the periphery of saiddetector disk engaging the same in `such manner as to partake of thelinear travel thereof and being at the same time free to slide sidewaysin reacting with the last wound turns of the core.

5. A winding machine including y`means for supporting and rotating acore being Wound, a detector disk, andra circular shoe of U-shaped crosssection fitted upon the periphery of said disk in a manner to yieldlocally and transversely.

6. In a winding machine, a detector` disk having a hard polishedsurface, and al rubber circular shoe fitted loosely thereon andproviding a transversely yieldable skin.

7. In a winding machine, a detectordisk having a smooth hard surface,and a rubber circular shoe tted thereon and having circumferentialflanges which stand away from the sides of the detector disk and aU-shaped body portion enclosing the rim of the disk.

8. In a winding machine, a metallic detector disk having a convex rim,and a molded flexible shoe concave in cross section to fit the rim ofthe detector about its central zone and shaped to stand away from thesides of the rim, whereby the body of the shoe is left free fortemporary lateral displacement in reacting with an object being wound.

9. A Vwinding machine having rolls for engaging and rotating a` core, athread guide leading thereto and determining the winding zone therein,and a rotary detector mounted to engage the core at a point in itswinding zone opposite to said rolls and having a surface covering whichis freely shiftable laterally with reference to the winding zone.

10. A winding machine having mechanism for supporting land rotating acore about an axis of fixed direction, a .thread guide leading tothecore and determining the winding zone therein, yand a detector diskwith convex rim mounted to rotate under the actuation of the rotatingcore and having a flexible surface covering which is linterposed betweensaid rim and the winding zone of the core and is" carried with the diskin its ,rotation and free to be temporarily displaced laterally withreference to the winding zone of the core.

11. A winding machine including oppositely-arranged flexible andyieldable members for rotating a core to be wound and holding it inplace during the process, one of said members being mounted for freetemporary transverse displacement in reacting with the core.

12. A winding machine including a driven flexible band for supportingand rotating a core to be wound, and a detector having a coveringarranged for temporary displacement during the winding process in a itor disk.

ing a core to be Wound and holding it in place during the windingoperation, both of said members being mounted for temporary transversedisplacement in reacting with the come.

16. In a Winding machine having a disk detector with a convex rim, arubber circular shoe shaped to fit loosely upon the periphery of thedisk, having a smooth, nonadherent inner surface adapted to slip freelythereon, being outwardly conveX in cross section and having its freeedges turned out* wardly away from the surface of the detec- ARTHUR F.PYM.

